Our smartphones, as we know, collect all kinds of data about us. They know everything. Even if we consult it, chat or take a look at social media while we drive. But not only that: thanks to GPS, microphones and, above all, G-force detection, in the event of an accident they could detect valuable data on the possible distraction of the driver. And tell us if the driver was watching TikTok or texting when he crashed his car. But it never happens: everyone looks at the cell phone but not the police who cannot use this data. Why?
His Majesty's New York Times sought an answer to the mother of all questions, posing a central problem in a major investigation. Explaining that phones track everything except their role in car accidents, and that there are no databases on the number of accidents or deaths caused by cell phone distraction.
The phenomenon is in fact sensationally underestimated: in 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, only 377 fatal accidents – just under 1% of the total – involved a driver distracted by his cell phone. Not only that: when reading police reports, cell phone use is not mentioned because generally one only relies on the fact that a driver admits to distraction, that a witness identifies him or, in even rarer cases, on the use of telephone records or other telephone forensic data that definitively shows distraction.
Matt Richtel of the New York Times explains the problem well: “Police can access cellphone records, but the process is complicated and privacy laws require a subpoena. Again, further analysis needs to be done to link the driver's phone activity to the time of the accident. Analysis can be expensive and authorities often choose not to pursue that line of investigation.” A situation similar to ours.
However, we are full of surveys showing that the majority of drivers admit to regularly scrolling social media, reading emails, playing games, watching videos or recording and posting them while driving. In short, phones and their data contain the solution to the problem of distraction while driving. You just have to have the courage to go and read them.
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